Road improvements coming to Rancho Bernardo Road

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ELIZABETH MARIE HIMCHAK

Drivers on Rancho Bernardo Road can expect delays through at least July 20 when traveling between Rancho Bernardo and Poway.

Most of the resurfacing work — that began Monday — is slated to be completed between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., with at least a portion of each lane of Rancho Bernardo Road between Bernardo Center Drive and Summerfield Lane (the latter on the RB/Poway border), closed in either direction during the time period.

Signs have been posted announcing that vehicles parked on that stretch of Rancho Bernardo Road will be towed if there during the announced work hours.

“Rebuilding San Diego is one of my top priorities on the City Council and I’m pleased to see the repaving of Rancho Bernardo Road currently underway,” said Councilman Mark Kersey.

“The repaving of Rancho Bernardo Road puts us closer to Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s goal of fixing 1,000 miles of roads in five years throughout the entire city,” Kersey said. “As of April 2018, the city repaired its 800th mile in less than three years and (is) expected to exceed 1,000 miles.

“The fiscal year 2019 budget, which began on July 1, ensures the momentum to rebuild San Diego does not slow down,” Kersey said. “The FY19 budget allocates $76 million in funding to fix the equivalent of 390 miles of streets and includes the largest investment in infrastructure in city history at $559 million.”

Kersey said repavement of several Rancho Bernardo roads is included in the FY19 budget, including the stretch of Paseo Lucido in front of Rancho Bernardo High School.

The councilman said the Rebuild San Diego initiative he authored, which voters approved as Proposition H in 2016, has resulted in the Infrastructure Fund dedicating $17.1 million this fiscal year “to meaningful infrastructure improvements such as sidewalk repair and maintenance, street resurfacing, new street lights and park upgrades across the city.”

Kersey said more work remains and, as chairman of the council’s Infrastructure Committee, he is committed to tackling the city’s infrastructure backlog and continually identifying new ways to streamline operations to stretch limited resources farther.

As for the Rancho Bernardo Road work occurring west of its Bernardo Center Drive intersection and going along The Mercado and toward Interstate 15, Kersey’s Communications Director Nikki Matosian said the contractors on that endeavor have said the road widening work is scheduled to be completed by the end of August.

“However, given the project history, the city anticipates everything to be completed by the end of September,” Matosian said on Tuesday.

The four-phase road expansion, paid for by CalAtlantic Homes (a Black Mountain Ranch developer), is part of an agreement with the City of San Diego due to the increase of traffic generated by the development of the Del Sur neighborhood. The city determined which projects are needed in the area and designed them, said a CalAtlantic official during a Rancho Bernardo community meeting in February 2017.

At the time, CalAtlantic officials said the entire project of widening Rancho Bernardo Road between Bernardo Center Drive and Interstate 15 would take six or seven months. But based on its other work, including a widening of West Bernardo Drive adjacent to Rancho Bernardo Community Park, community leaders said it would realistically take at least a year.

As of last November, the project was only in its first phase — adding the first section of a third lane next to the Mobil gas station. The second phase was to move the project west, along the southern border of The Mercado. Later planned work includes fixing the “jog” in the far-right eastbound lane as it approaches the Arco gas station.

Kersey has previously said he is “frustrated” with the project’s numerous delays and constituents have repeatedly contacted his office to complain about it.

The most recent update posted on the Rancho Bernardo Planning Board’s website, provided in January, said the entire project was to be done by June 2.